Memos from Taylor Billings • Press Secretary
Corporate Accountability

500 Groups Urge Next U.S. President to Declare National Emergency, Rejoin Paris Accord With Bold Climate Commitments

10 Executive Actions in First 10 Days Could Phase Out Fossil Fuels, Jumpstart Just Green Economy

MADRID,
Spain—
U.S. environmental and climate-justice groups at the United Nations climate change conference in Madrid called on the next U.S. president today to declare a national climate emergency. The plan,
supported by hundreds of U.S. groups, urges the next administration to take 10 executive actions in its first 10 days in office to confront the climate crisis.

The groups'
action
plancalls for the use of
existing executive powers to take bold, foundational steps on climate. The steps include immediately rejoining the Paris Agreement and revising U.S. commitments under the accord to make
meaningful emissions reductions and finance pledges. These changes would help the United States do its fair share as the world's largest cumulative historical emitter of greenhouse
gases.

The 10 steps
would not require congressional action.

"America is the number one
historical contributor to the climate emergency that's burning California, flooding the Southeast, and wreaking havoc on the rest of the world," said Jean Su, energy director at the Center for
Biological Diversity. "The next president must repay this extraordinary climate debt by rapidly moving America to 100% clean energy, ending fossil fuel extraction and financing the
decarbonization of the Global South with justice and equity."

"The climate
crisis can't be solved by one country alone. The next administration must drastically ramp up climate action in the U.S., and it must also drastically increase our support for climate action in
poorer countries," said Brandon Wu, policy and campaigns director of ActionAid USA. "The climate emergency is global, and the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world have the fewest
resources to cope with its impacts. This set of executive actions would put the U.S. on the right track toward doing its fair share of climate action. We do need Congress to act in order to
provide the level of financial and technological support that developing countries truly need — but with these executive actions, the next president has a huge set of tools in their toolbox to
jumpstart proactive, justice-based solutions."

The plan focuses
on unlocking existing executive authorities to start a wholesale transition to a regenerative and equitable economy for the country.

"The climate
crisis cannot be limited to one of fossil fuel emissions and infrastructure," explained Anthony Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator for Climate Justice Alliance. "Frontline communities, already
being hit first and worst by this crisis, have always understood that the climate crisis is a crisis of justice, and its root causes are white supremacy, patriarchy, and colonization. The next
President cannot stand by, wait for Congress to act and preside over a perpetual interregnum — we have no more time for that. This set of executive actions puts the fossil fuel, and other
iniquitous industries that treat our communities like sacrifice zones on notice, while offering a suite of actions the next president can promulgate on day one to address systemic and
institutionalized injustices. At the same time, we're also putting the next Congress on notice to get serious about dismantling this crisis, or the people will circumvent you with all available
means."

"The first 100
days in office will be a critical test for our next president. This 10-point plan contains desperately needed actions that can be taken regardless of the situation in Congress, and taking it
seriously reflects a real commitment to addressing the climate emergency that is already killing communities on a daily basis," said Collin Rees, senior campaigner at Oil Change U.S. "Ending
handouts to Big Oil, Gas, and Coal, winding down fossil fuel extraction, investing in a truly just transition for workers and communities, and paving the way for a 100% renewable energy economy
are no-brainers. The future of the planet is on the line, and we need a president willing to stand up to big polluters and do what needs to be done."

"The United
States government has long acted to advance the interests of corporations over people, and under Trump the government has lowered the bar even further. The U.S. continues to act at the behest of
big polluters like the fossil fuel industry by ignoring science, blocking climate policy, and putting big polluter profit over the needs and demands of people," said Sriram Madhusoodanan, climate
campaign director of Corporate Accountability. "The next administration must start a new chapter in U.S. history, kick polluters out of climate policymaking, make them pay for the damage they've
knowingly caused, and take every action possible to advance urgently needed, internationally just climate action."

"On day one, we
expect the next president of the United States to lead with the urgency required to mitigate the climate crisis. These ten executive actions are the essential building blocks for the rapid and
transformational change we need in order to address the catastrophic impacts already being experienced by present generations and worsening each year that world leaders play politics with
peoples' lives," said Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, North America director of 350.org. "There can be no
more compromise on how to address the climate crisis; we must phase out coal, oil, and gas immediately, make polluters pay for the necessary care and repair to our climate, and invest in a just
transition that creates millions of jobs and prioritizes frontline communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color. Our demands are clear, and we expect the next president to step
up to address the crisis of our time."

"The next
president will enter office with the U.S. far behind on climate policy, with oil and gas extraction recklessly expanding, and atmospheric methane pollution spiking. But it will also be a time of
unprecedented momentum to take bold and necessary climate action thanks to people driven movements fighting for change everywhere," said Lauren Pagel, policy director at Earthworks. "Executive
action alone is not enough to make a just transition away from fossil fuels, but it is essential to bolster the progress from climate leadership happening now in state capitals and communities
across the country."

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species
and wild places.

ActionAid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice.

The
Climate Justice Alliance formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force.

Oil Change U.S. is dedicated to supporting real climate leadership, exposing the true costs of fossil fuels, and building a just, equitable, and renewable energy future in the United
States.

Corporate
Accountability is a 40-year-old membership organization that stops transnational corporations from undermining public health, human rights, democracy, and the environment.

350.org is an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a
world of community-led renewable energy for all.

Earthworks
is dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development while seeking sustainable solutions.

Millions of people took to the streets this year to demand climate action. Led by our youth, women, Indigenous Peoples, workers and climate justice movements, all of civil society made our voices
heard like never before and awakened the world to the climate emergency.

Now our voices are being silenced. Hundreds of us demonstrated inside the halls of COP25 today in Madrid — not to block progress, but to drive it forward. Our motto was, "Step up, pay up." It was
a message to the rich industrialized countries who refuse to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement and human rights law to provide finance to support communities suffering from
increasingly severe disasters. It was a message to the corporate polluters, who roam these halls attempting to profit from the world's suffering with their false solutions to climate change
rather than making a transition away from a fossil fuel economy and paying for the damage they've done.

Instead of kicking out these polluters, the UNFCCC 25th Conferences of the Parties (COP25) kicked out the people. Instead of listening to our voices, they attempted to silence us. We were pushed,
bullied, and touched without our consent. We were driven out of the negotiating halls, told that we can take our action outside as they raised an enormous metal door and herded us out. We weren't
advised to the intentions of the UN security to take our badges. We stood out in the cold, many without our jackets and coats as we later watched the enormous metal door lock us out in the
cold. An Indigenous woman was not allowed to go back inside to feed her baby.

This has never happened before in 25 years of negotiations. Yet, there could be no better symbol of this crisis we face. People around the world are crying out for justice, and fighting
oppression, while those in power attempt to shut us out. They pay us lip service, thanking us for our action, but when the time comes to act, they slam the door in our face while providing a
platform to polluters. The UN and countries want to recognize the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples but chose not to recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is a pattern that
takes place around the world, from Chile to the halls of COP25, to every place where local communities and Indigenous Peoples are fighting for their rights and their future.

We will not back down. We demand full access for civil society, the people of the world, to these negotiations and all international processes. We demand that our voices be heard.

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